Historic American Engineering Record

Historic American Engineering Record
Theodore Webb · Public domain · source
Name	Historic American Engineering Record
Caption	HAER drawing of a bridge
Formation	1969
Location	United States
Parent organization	National Park Service

Contents

Historic American Engineering Record is a federal program that documents historic engineering and industrial sites across the United States, producing measured drawings, large-format photography, and written histories. Established within the National Park Service and associated with the Library of Congress and National Archives and Records Administration, it has surveyed bridges, canals, railroads, shipyards, and industrial complexes from the Erie Canal to the Transcontinental Railroad. The program complements surveys such as the Historic American Buildings Survey and the Historic American Landscapes Survey while interacting with preservation frameworks like the National Register of Historic Places and legislation such as the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966.

History

HAER traces its origins to initiatives in the late 1960s to record engineering achievements threatened by urban renewal and infrastructure projects such as the Interstate Highway System and the construction of reservoirs like Glen Canyon Dam. Early collaborators included the Historic American Buildings Survey, the Library of Congress, and engineers from institutions such as the American Society of Civil Engineers and universities like Massachusetts Institute of Technology and University of California, Berkeley. Major studies in the 1970s focused on transportation works like the Brooklyn Bridge, the St. Louis Arch, and railroad complexes tied to the legacy of the Union Pacific Railroad and the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. Over subsequent decades HAER's work intersected with preservation campaigns involving sites such as the Lowell National Historical Park and the Boston Navy Yard.

HAER's mission emphasizes documentation, education, and preservation through programs that record structures ranging from Hoover Dam and the Panama Canal locks influence to smaller industrial sites like textile mills in Pawtucket, Rhode Island and steelworks in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Programs coordinate with federal agencies such as the Smithsonian Institution and the United States Army Corps of Engineers, and professional bodies including the Association for Preservation Technology and the Society for Industrial Archeology. HAER operates grant-supported surveys, field recording projects, and academic partnerships with schools like Columbia University, University of Pennsylvania, and Iowa State University to train students in documentation methods used for sites like Montgomery Ward Company Complex and Bethlehem Steel.

HAER employs measured drawings, large-format photographic records, and historical reports following standards developed in consultation with the Library of Congress, the American Institute of Architects, and engineering societies such as the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. Techniques include rectified photography used for documenting facades at sites like the Old State House (Boston) and photogrammetry applied to bridges such as the Forth Bridge-style truss examples in the United States, plus field notes and oral histories aligned with methodologies from the Smithsonian Folklife Festival and archival practices at the National Archives. Documentation often references plans from firms like McKim, Mead & White and engineers affiliated with projects by Gustave Eiffel-influenced designers, ensuring records meet accession criteria for the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.

HAER's collections in the Library of Congress include comprehensive surveys of landmark structures such as the Golden Gate Bridge, the Brooklyn Navy Yard, the Erie Canal Locks, the Hoover Dam, and textile complexes like Slater Mill. Other notable surveys cover Philadelphia Navy Yard, Chicago Stockyards, Alaska Railroad facilities, and maritime sites including the USS Constitution and shipyards at Portsmouth Navy Yard. Regional projects document New England mills in Lowell, Massachusetts and industrial archaeology in the Anthracite Coal Region of Pennsylvania. Collaborative surveys have addressed Cold War-era facilities like Hanford Site reactors and transportation infrastructure tied to the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System.

HAER documentation has supported nomination dossiers for the National Register of Historic Places, informed adaptive reuse projects at sites such as the Tate & Lyle Sugar Works-analogues in the United States, and bolstered litigation and advocacy for preservation of bridges like the Essex-Merrimack-era spans and railroad workshops associated with the Central Pacific Railroad. The archival resources aid scholarship at institutions such as the American Antiquarian Society, the College of William & Mary, and the Smithsonian Institution, and underpin exhibits at museums like the National Building Museum and the Smithsonian National Museum of American History. HAER records have been used in rehabilitation projects following disasters involving infrastructure overseen by agencies such as the Federal Emergency Management Agency and in cultural landscape planning under programs connected to the National Park Service.

Administratively, HAER operates within the National Park Service framework and collaborates with the Library of Congress, state historic preservation offices such as those in New York (state), Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania, and nonprofit partners including the National Trust for Historic Preservation and the Preservation Society of Newport County. Partnerships extend to professional organizations like the American Society of Civil Engineers, academic centers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and University of Illinois Urbana–Champaign, and international liaisons with entities such as ICOMOS and the International Committee for the Conservation of the Industrial Heritage. Funding and project execution often involve cooperation with the National Endowment for the Humanities and private foundations active in heritage conservation.